After facing assurgent amounts of pressure over the past couple of months, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Magill, resigned from her position on Saturday, December 9. Shortly after Magill’s announcement, the Chair of the Board of Trustees at UPenn, Scott Bok, announced his own resignation. Four days prior, Magill appeared before Congress alongside the president of MIT, Sally Kornbluth, and the president of Harvard University, Claudine Gay. The three presidents testified over the antisemitism that has occurred across each of the university campuses in response to the Israel-Hamas war. As Magill’s replies to the questionnaire became public, many more Americans questioned their allegiance and respect for the university, enraged by her responses to Representative Elise Stefanik’s interrogation. Specifically, outrage was rooted in her avoidance of the question of whether attendees of the university who called for the genocide of Jews should be punished.
Called to Congress on Tuesday, December 5, President Magill was one of three university presidents who testified over how their educational boards have dealt with on-campus harassment of Jewish students due to the Hamas-Israel war. During the hearing, Representative Elise Stefanik asked all three presidents a rather simple question: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?” Each president responded with a rather complex answer. In a “lawyer fashion,” Magill’s response entailed, “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment, yes.” When asked again if “specifically calling for the genocide of Jews constitutes bullying or harassment,” Magill responded, “If it is directed and severe or pervasive, then it is harassment.” When asked if that denoted that her answer was a “yes,” Magill told Representative Stefanik, “It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.”
In wake of her session before Congress, many replies insinuated the same idea: resignation. The Friday following the hearing, 70 members of Congress that formed a bipartisan group sent a letter to UPenn, Harvard, and MIT’s boards, demanding that the presidents all step down. Their request was supported by many. In addition to UPenn suffering the loss of nearly $100 million in funding after Magill’s testimony, Pennsylvania State Senators Steve Santarsiero and Doug Mastriano called for Magill to resign.
Scott Bok, now former Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, announced Magill’s resignation as president just minutes before declaring his own. According to The Daily Pennsylvania, Bok announced, “Today, following the resignation of the University of Pennsylvania’s president and related Board of Trustee meetings, I submitted my resignation as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, effective immediately. While I was asked to remain in that role for the remainder of my term in order to help with the presidential transition, I concluded that, for me, now was the right time to depart.” Although resigned, Magill will remain president until, according to Penn Today, the university newspaper, a temporary replacement is appointed.
Following Bok’s resignation, the university was quick to find an interim replacement, promoting the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, Julie Platt, as Chair for the time being. Due to her position as the Board Chair of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), Platt will only hold this position until a permanent replacement is decided.
Magill is the first of many leaders of American universities facing pressures due to their actions upon condemning the flaming antisemitism that has been in an uproar since October 7. However, the challenge for most universities lies in the fact that while faculty do not want to take away their students’ freedom of speech, many of the pro-Palestinian riots led by these scholars are used to promote hatred towards Israel. Magill’s resignation also does not guarantee the resignation of the many UPenn staff members who share similar views as the students that promote the pro-Palestinian riots. At this point, it is up to the better judgment of UPenn’s Nominating Committee to decide if the new president and chair will be able to do what Magill and Bok did not succeed in.
